Bedside bassinettes are bassinets designed to allow the bassinette to be placed alongside a parental bed, to provide a safe location for an infant to sleep, while keeping the infant immediately adjacent to a parent.
Bedside bassinettes typically have a sleeping surface, positioned at or below the top surface of a parental bed against which the bedside bassinette has been placed. In order to prevent a sleeping infant from accidentally rolling off of the sleeping surface, the bedside bassinette typically has walls around the edges of the sleeping surface which are not abutted against a parental bed.
The inclusion of a wall along the edge of the sleeping surface which abuts the parental bed (hereafter referred to as the front edge in order to simplify the reference) may allow the bedside bassinette to be used as a conventional bassinette, when the wall is positioned to prevent an infant from rolling off the sleeping surface along that edge. Obviously, the inclusion of a fixed front wall can interfere with the ability of the bassinette to be used as a bedside bassinette. Such a fixed front wall could also limit the utility of the device as a changing table when the bedside bassinette is positioned away from a parental bed.
In order to allow a wall to be placed along this front edge, therefore, a cross-member is typically implemented, such that with the cross-member included, the wall along the front edge can be attached to the cross-member at an upper end to provide structural stability to the front wall. The upper cross-member, however, may need to be removed for the bassinette to be utilized as a bedside bassinette or changing table.
As shown in Applicant's earlier patents, the front wall may be formed from a flap which extends from the front edge of the sleeping surface, such that with the flap hanging below the sleeping surface, the bedside bassinette may be suitable for use as a changing table, while with the flap attached to the crossbar, the bedside bassinette may be suitable for use as a conventional bassinette.
In Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,211, the use of a bedside bassinette having a front wall positioned at an intermediate height was disclosed. The use of the intermediate height provides additional safety for an infant laying on the sleeping surface. The front wall may be joined to the surrounding wall, such that it is ensured that a wall surrounds the sleeping surface to prevent an infant from rolling off of the sleeping surface. The use of an intermediate height front wall does not preclude either the use of a front flap style front wall, or the addition of a flap to the top edge of a joined intermediate height wall, such as to allow positioning of the front wall to create a conventional bassinette.
Accordingly, there are at least three potential positions at which it could be desired to have a front crossbar to provide support to a front wall, i.e., adjacent the sleeping surface, at the intermediate position, and at a full height position (such that the front wall has the same height as the other wall sections surrounding the sleeping surface.
Different methods of attaching the front crossbar have been used, such as the slide locks shown in Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,148,456, 6,678,211, and 6,112,347. These methods each implement an attachment at both ends in order to allow the height of the front crossbar to be adjusted. These methods, however, may be cumbersome if one-handed adjustment of the crossbar is attempted, such as when a care-giver is holding an infant while attempting to adjust the height of the front crossbar.